MORNING SKATE RECAP
TORONTO, Ont. - The Devils held an optional morning skate in Toronto ahead of facing the Maple Leafs. On the ice were Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat, Jesper Bratt, Arseny Gritsyuk, Paul Cotter, Cody Glass and Luke Glendening, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, Simon Nemec, Dennis Cholowski, Jake Allen and Nico Daws.
Allen is the scheduled starter versus the Leafs.
Sophmore Season
This will be the second time that Keefe returns to Ontario as the coach of the Devils and this time, it felt a little different, less like a homecoming of sorts.
“It’s totally different this time around,” Keefe said. “The whole experience, of everything. Being in New Jersey the second time around, having so many now established relationships that were still so fresh and new and all of that with players and staff last year, everything is feeling a lot more comfortable, I would say, natural. That’s important for me and our team as we continue to take a step.”
But that's not to say he isn't acutely aware of the personnel on the Maple Leafs, he had coached their top players for years. And even without Mitch Marner, they're a team with all kinds of firepower to guard against.
"The challenge remains the same," Keefe said. "They have so many great threats wish Auston (Matthews) and William (Nylander) controlling so much out there. Their defense that was so good for them last season is in-tact. Their goaltending, lots of things for us to be focused on with this group."
While understanding the opponent in one thing, what's important is focusing on your own.
"We've found different ways to win games," Keefe said. "The foundation, penalty killing has been extremely strong, even though we've taken too many penalties, that's really helped us, that's continued from last season which has been really great to see in the early going. But also, just how we manage games at different times and stayed with it, not allowed teams to really build leads on us so we can hang around and then eventually take over or control play from the start and managing the game throughout. And it's all been a good responce to what was a poor outting in Game 1 to start the season."
Feeling Good
Averaging 15:43 a night to start the season, through five games, Simon Nemec has been steadily paired with Brenden Dillon this early season. One of Nemec’s biggest focuses in the off-season was finding a way to be more mobile on the ice.
It’s something he’s felt has helped his game already early in the season.
“I feel I’ve improved my skating,” Nemec said. “I feel quicker, I’m closing guys in the D-Zone quicker, that’s the biggest thing that I feel.”
But Nemec doesn’t get ahead of himself, knowing, certainly, there’s still plenty of growth to go.
“I feel really good,” he said. “I’m showing some improvments on the ice, but there’s still a lot of work ahead. Just trying to be better every day.”
